Nice story, not true. http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.htm

>When NASA sent the first astronauts into space, they soon realised that pens don't work when there is no gravity. To resolve this problem, NASA commissioned Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture - http://www.accenture.com) to do a study. After 10 years of work and 12 million dollars spent, the Americans have a pen that is capable of writing in any position, in the absence of gravity and in a variation of temperature between 0 and 300 degrees.
>
>The Russians used pencils.
>
>Keep it Simple!
>
>Well, at least there was lots of technology involved. Isn't that what matters? :)
>
>Fernando